With family-owned businesses dominating the Israeli economy, the recent launch of the Raya Strauss Center for Family Business Research at the Faculty of Management of Tel Aviv University is timely and essential. The center, established through a $5 million gift from Raya Strauss, is the first of its kind for research and teaching in the field of family business in Israel.

To succeed in today's marketplace, a family-owned company must address special challenges, such as nurturing effective family and shareholder working relationships, passing the business from one generation to the next, and maintaining ownership control. The new center will focus on in-depth academic research of these and other issues common to family businesses around the world.

The center will join similar ones at leading institutions such as Kellogg, Harvard, Wharton and INSEAD. "The field of family business, which includes a wide range of companies – from small businesses to global conglomerates – plays a key role in contributing to the growth of the Israeli economy," said Prof. Moshe Zviran, Dean of the Faculty of Management. "The new center will help strengthen the family business sector and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, thus contributing to professionalism and excellence."

The center's mission is to serve as a focal point for research and studies on an international scale. In addition, the center will work to increase networking and partnerships among family businesses.

Creating academic-business dialogue

At the agreement signing for the center, Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University, thanked Raya Strauss for her work and extensive contribution to the family business field, which is of great importance economically and to the core business values of Israeli society. According to Klafter, "TAU's goal is to create an active dialogue between the academic world and the business world, thereby significantly promoting the field of family business research."

Also participating in the signing ceremony were Prof. Zviran and the joint heads of the new center – Dr. Dan Weiss, researcher in the field of family business at the Faculty of Management, and Mrs. Nava Michael-Tsabari, who recently submitted the first doctorate in the field in Israel.